Home entertainment takes its brand-new form. With the development of game news innovation and its combination to numerous elements of our lives, traditional entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural shows is replaced by so-called "electronic entertainment". There you have numerous digital and animated films that you can enjoy on movie theater or on your house entertainment system, cable system (CTS), and the computer game system, which is popular not just to young and old gamers alike however likewise to game designers, merely because of the development of ingenious innovations that they can use to enhance existing game systems.
The computer game system is intended for playing video games, though there are modern video game systems that permits you to have a gain access to over other forms of home entertainment using such video game systems (like viewing DVD movies, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Web). Hence, it is typically referred to as "interactive entertainment computer system" to identify the video game system from a device that is utilized for numerous functions (such as desktop computer and game video games).
The first generation of computer game system began when Magnavox (an electronic devices business which manufactures televisions, radios, and gramophones or record players) released its very first video game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey developed by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's appeal lasted till the release of Atari's PONG video games. Magnavox understood that they can not take on the popularity of PONG video games, therefore in 1975 they produced the Odyssey 100 video game system that will play Atari-produced PONG games.
The second generation of computer game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild released the FVES (Fairchild Video Home Entertainment System), that made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to save microprocessor directions. Nevertheless, because of the "computer game crash" in 1977, Fairchild deserted the computer game system market. Magnavox and Atari stayed in the video game industry.
The rebirth of the computer game system began when Atari released the popular arcade Area Intruders. The industry was unexpectedly restored, with many players made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Area Intruders. Simply put, with the appeal of Space Intruders, Atari dominated the video game industry throughout the 80s.
Video game system's third generation came into being after the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported complete color, high resolution, and tiled background video gaming system. It was at first released in Japan and it was later brought to the United States in the form of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And similar to Atari's Area Invaders, the release of Nintendo's popular Super Mario Brothers was a big success, which entirely revived the suffering computer game system industry in the early months of 1983.
Sega planned to compete with Nintendo, but they failed to develop significant market share. It was till 1988 when Sega released the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe territories. 2 years later, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1990.
Atari returned with their brand-new video game system, which is the Jaguar and 3DO. Both systems could display more onscreen colors and the latter made use of a CD instead of game cartridges, making it more powerful compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, chose to launch brand-new video games such as Donkey Kong Country instead of producing brand-new computer game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Several years later, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo released the fifth generation of video game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).
The sixth generation of game systems followed, including Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last video game system and the very first Internet-ready game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Video Game Cube which is their first system to use video game CDs), and the newcomer Microsoft (Xbox).
The current generation of computer game systems is now gradually entering the game industry. These are as follows:
- Microsoft's Xbox, which was released on November 22, 2005;
- Sony's PlayStation 3, which is schedule to be launched on November 11, 2006 (Japan), November 17 of the very same year (The United States and Canada), and March 2007 (Europe); and
- Nintendo's Wii, which is set up to be released on November 19, 2006 (The United States And Canada), December 2 of the very same year (Japan), December 7 (Australia), and December 8 (Europe).
The advancement of video game system does not end here. There will be future generations of game system being established as of this minute, which will defy the method we specify "home entertainment".